耶和華見證人

法國大革命(French Revolution)

1787～1799年間震撼法國的革命運動。既表示法國舊秩序已告結束，革命的起因包括不能充分供養的人口太多；將富有的和日益擴大的資產階級排除在政治權力之外；農民不願支援封建制度；法國參加美國革命戰爭，是國家財政徹底破產。1787年增加特權者賦稅，引起了「貴族集團」的叛亂。國王路易十六世召開三級會議，由教士、貴族和第三等級組成。代表們在一個基本問題上發生分歧，第三等級在網球場集合，宣誓如不制訂新憲法，他們絕不離散。國王終於作出讓步，成立國民議會。但國王和貴族陰謀推翻第三等級的訊息引起1789年7月的大恐慌。1789年7月14日，巴黎的群眾進攻巴士底獄。國民議會擬訂新的憲法，發表《人權和公民權利宣言》，宣佈公民有自由、平等以及反抗壓迫的權利。1791年的憲法意圖建立君主制政權。國民議會將教會地產收歸國有以清償公共債務，並改組教會，實行《教士公民組織法》。路易十六世企圖逃出法國，但在瓦雷訥被截，押回巴黎。新國家主義的法國，在法國革命開始之前，於1792年4月向奧地利和普魯士宣戰。1792年8月，法國革命者把王族關入丹普爾監獄。殺死囚禁在那裡的貴族和教士。1792年9月，新的議會，即國民公會--分裂成吉倫特派和極端分子的山嶽派。宣佈廢除君主制，建立第一共和。路易十六世受到國民公會審訊，以叛國罪判處死刑，並於1793年1月21日處決。山嶽派奪得權力，他們實行極端的經濟和社會政策，引起了強烈的反抗。但是恐怖統治把反抗分子鎮壓下去。1794年革命政府軍隊大敗奧地利軍隊的勝利使恐怖統治、經濟和社會的限制失去意義，於是力主採取限制措施的羅伯斯比爾於共和2年熱月9日在國民公會中被推翻，次日被送上斷頭臺（參閱Thermidorian Reaction）。保王黨想在巴黎奪取，但是共和4年葡萄月13日（1795年10月5日），被拿破崙.波拿巴粉碎。國民公會通過的憲法規定：行政權由五人督政府行使，立法權由兩院行使。戰爭使法國督政府和立法兩院之間的對立日益激烈。後來通過政變（主要是果月十八日政變和霧月十八～十九日政變），才解決了雙方的爭執。波拿巴推翻了督政府，併成為第一執政官。亦請參閱Public Safety,Committee of、Constitution of 1795、Constitution of the Year VIII、Corday,Charlotte、Cordeliers,Club of the、Danton,Georges、Feuillants,Club of the、Jacobin Club、Marat,Jean-Paul、Marie-Antoinette、Saint-Just,Louis de、Sieyes,Emmanuel-Joseph。

English version：

French Revolution

Movement that shook France between 1787 and 1799 and ended the ancien régime. Causes included a large underfed population,loss of peasant support for the feudal system,an expanding bourgeoisie that was excluded from political power,and a fiscal crisis worsened by participation in the American Revolution. The efforts of the regime in 1787 to increase taxes levied on the privileged classes initiated a crisis. In response,Louis XVI convened the Estates-General,made up of clergy,nobility and the Third Estate (commoners) in 1789. Trying to pass reforms,it swore the Tennis Court Oath not to disperse until France had a new constitution. The king grudgingly concurred in the formation of the National Assembly,but rumors of an “aristocratic conspiracy” led to the Great Fear of July 1789,and Parisians seized the Bastille on July 14. The assembly drafted a new constitution that introduced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,proclaiming liberty,equality,and fraternity. The Constitution of 1791 also established a short-lived constitutional monarchy. The Assembly nationalized church lands to pay off the public debt and reorganized the church (see Civil Constitution of the Clergy). The king tried to flee the country,but was apprehended at Varennes. France,newly nationalistic,declared war on Austria and Prussia in 1792,beginning the French Revolutionary Wars. Revolutionaries imprisoned the royal family and massacred nobles and clergy at the Tuileries in 1792. A new assembly,the National Convention—divided between Girondins and the extremist Montagnards—abolished the monarchy and established the First Republic in September 1792. Louis XVI was judged by the Convention and executed for treason on January 21,1793. The Montagnards seized power and adopted radical economic and social policies that provoked violent reactions,including the Wars of the Vendée and citizen revolts. Opposition was broken by the Reign of Terror. Military victories in 1794 brought a change in the public mood,and Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown in the Convention on 9 Thermidor,year II,and executed the next day (see Thermidorian Reaction). Royalists tried to seize power in Paris but were crushed by Napoleon on 13 Vendémaire,year IV (1795). A new constitution placed executive power in a Directory of five members. The war and schisms in the Directory led to disputes that were settled by coups d'état,chiefly those of 18 Fructidor and 18-19 Brumaire,in which Napoleon abolished the Directory and declared himself leader of France. See also Committee of Public Safety,Constitution of 1795,Constitution of the Year VIII,Charlotte Corday,Club of the Cordeliers,Georges J. Danton,Club of the Feuillants,Jacobin Club,J.-P. Marat,Marie-Antoinette,Louis de Saint-Just,E.-J. Sieyès.